Essence. From the Latin essentia (esse = to be), corresponding to the Greek ousia. Essence is distinguished traditionally from existence and refers to what is deemed to be the permanent aspect of a thing or other entity, contradistinguished from what is in process or in flux. For Plato, the essence or ousia of existents is to be found in their eternal archetypes. Aristotle identifies essence with eidos or form but repudiates the Platonic archetypal ideals. In the Middle Ages, both the Islamic and the Latin Christian philosophers distinguished between God in whom essence and existence coincide and all other beings in which they are distinct. That is to say that while all entities other than God are in process, not having fully realized their potentialities, God, as the source of all beings other than himself, is the reality in which there is no process. In modern times Husserl's philosophy is very largely concerned with the exploring of essences, and Santayana views all experience as steeped in essences. See Existence.

Geddes MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1989

essence : (m.) 1. sāra; maṇḍa; sāraṃsa; piṇḍattha. (f.) ojā.

A.P. Buddhadatta Mahathera, Concise Pali-English and English-Pali Dictionary [available as digital version from Metta Net, Sri Lanka]

snying po

[translation-san] {LCh,C,MSA} garbha ({C}=madhya)

[translation-san] {LCh,L,MSA} sāra

[translation-san] {C} asāratā

[translation-san] {MSA,C} varti

[translation-san] {L,MSA} maṇḍa

[translation-eng] {Hopkins} essence; {T} matrix

[translation-eng] {C} enshrining; womb; embryo; place; seat; core; substance; substantial excellence; lack of a core; unsubstantiality; wick

Jeffrey Hopkins' Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary

bdag nyid

[translation-san] {C,MSA} svayam

[translation-san] {C} sat

[translation-san] {C} ātmaka

[translation-san] {C} ātmika

[translation-san] {MSA} ātman

[translation-san] {MSA} svātman

[translation-eng] {Hopkins} [self-ness]; essence; nature; entity

[translation-eng] {C} (by) himself; oneself; on his own; good; self; myself; for himself; for themselves; his own; I myself; my own self; in itself; inward; in itself

Jeffrey Hopkins' Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary

bden nyid

[translation-eng] {Hopkins} essence

Jeffrey Hopkins' Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary

gand

[translation-eng] {Hopkins} essence; important point; pith; essential

Jeffrey Hopkins' Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary